To Touch the Clouds

Abby’s favorite pastime was to lay amongst the sweet-smelling clovers and narrate the stories performed by the clouds above her. Floating castles shapeshifted into mythical creatures which transformed into snowy dwarf dwellings. She always wondered if she could touch the clouds if she climbed high enough.

Abby tried from the top of the play structure, from the cherry tree in her backyard, and from the attic window, but it was never high enough. She thought about hiking to the top of the neighboring mountains but it looked too far and scary.

But on this particular morning, Abby sat up from her bed of clovers. “Today will be the day that I finally try!” She stood up in determination and headed home to pack.

Abby slipped a loaf of banana bread and a blanket into a sack. The mountain peaks looked so far from her house. She shook her head as if to shake off the doubts and set off toward the foothills.

As she turned the corner of the street she bumped into a squirrel slouched in a chair behind a lemonade stand. There was a sign on the front that read, “Free lemonade – only 50 cents donation!” Perspiring paper cups of lemonade were lined up on the table. As Abby edged around the stand, she noticed that the squirrel was counting the dollars and cents at the bottom of a glass jar, over and over again.

“What are you doing?” Abby asked. The squirrel pushed his glasses high up on his nose, “I’m collecting money until I can be rich and retire!”

Abby slid 50 cents across the counter and took a soggy cup of lemonade. “And what are you going to do when you retire?” she inquired.

The squirrel straightened up in his chair, “I’m gonna travel the world, relax on beaches and stuff.”

Abby nodded and gulped down her drink. “I’m on a trip right now… up to those mountains.” She pointed. “Why wait until you retire? Why don’t you come with me now?”

The squirrel inspected his mostly empty jar. “Well… Okay. I’m not making much today anyway.” He pocketed the change from the jar and scribbled a note on the sign that said “CLOSED (for today)”. He tucked a bottle of lemonade into his backpack and adjusted his glasses. “I’m ready. Lead the way!”.

The duo made their way out of town and to a park entrance at the base of the mountains. They came upon a bear cub stooped over a sapling of pine. She had piles of rope and a short plank of wood at her feet. She was staring at the sapling and did not notice the pair approach her. “Hello there!” Abby greeted. “What are you doing?”

“Oh hello!” The cub blinked in bewilderment. “I’m waiting for this to grow taller than me.”

Abby and the squirrel crouched next to the sapling. It looked like it had a long way to go. “What are you going to do when it gets taller than you?” The squirrel asked.

The cub brightened. “I’m going to tie a rope swing to it and swing all day!”

Abby looked around. The other trees were too tall to reach and the sapling was too small. “We are on a trip up the mountain. You’re welcome to join us while you wait for the sapling to grow.”

The cub looked at the sapling, glanced up at the mountains and then back down at them. “Oh alright, but I need to be back soon”. She gathered her ropes and plank, folded a piece of paper, wrote “Tree taken – Be back later” and stuck it on a twig of the sapling.

With their new friend, Abby and the squirrel continued on their way. They followed the trail until they reached a river crossing. They splashed in the water, collected pebbles and played tag until they all ran out of breath and collapsed by the river bank. “This is so much fun!” The squirrel squeaked. “It’s not a beach, but I still get to swim. I guess I don’t need to wait until I get rich.” He tossed his pennies one by one into the river for good luck.

The hikers continued deeper into the forest and the trail got steep. Abby thought the clouds looked closer. Suddenly, the bear cub let out a shout of joy and pointed. Bridging across two boulders was a fallen log of pine just high enough to reach on tip toes. The cub skipped over and started tossing the ropes over the log. ‘This is perfect!” She declared.

Abby and the squirrel joined her and they helped tie the knots. The friends took turns pushing each other on the swing until they got tired. Then they laid out on Abby’s blanket and feasted on banana bread and washed it down with lemonade. “So yummy!”, The squirrel said with puffed cheeks full of banana bread. Abby and the bear cub agreed and quickly finished every last crumb before the squirrel could stash it away.

After the trio had eaten their fill, they felt it was time to move on. The top of the mountain was calling them. Abby had told her friends about her favorite pastime and how she wanted nothing more than to touch a cloud. They wanted to try and touch the clouds too.

As the friends pushed forward, the sun sunk in the sky and a blanket of fog crept in. They crossed bridges near thundering waterfalls and clambered over moss covered boulders. By the time they reached the summit, the sky glowed vibrant in streaks of yellow, orange and pink behind the purple fog. They watched, breathless.

Soon, the first tendril of fog reached them and the rest of the cloud mass glided in behind. White mist engulfed them. Abby and her friends extended their arms and touched the cloud. It left dewdrops on their fingertips. They closed their eyes and stuck out their tongues to try and taste it but ended up tripping over each other and landed in a tangled heap. They stifled their laughter as to not disturb the magic. The moist air around them shimmered in the setting sun and they could see nothing else. It was like being in a pearl. Abby couldn’t stop beaming.

The three friends stayed on the mountain top, shrouded in their cloud, until the sun disappeared. The air grew chilly as they descended the mountain. They trekked out of the forest and returned to the sapling where the bear cub took down her sign. She hugged Abby and the squirrel and waved goodbye. “Thank you! I’m glad that I came along. Somehow we all found what we were looking for!” She said. “Let’s play together again!” the squirrel piped.

Abby and the squirrel made their way back to the lemonade stand. The squirrel packed up his store. “Come visit soon. I’ll give you free lemonade – no donation needed.”

“Thank you – I will!” Abby laughed as she turned to walk home. On her way back, it was not the thought of the clouds that kept her smiling, but of her newfound friends.

Author’s Notes

In the kitchen

If you don’t have ripe bananas, I’ve heard that you can ripen them in your oven by putting your unpeeled bananas on a cookie sheet and place in the oven at 300 degrees F for 15 to 30 minutes. Also, we baked our loaf in the toaster oven and found that it was browning too quickly, so we put a sheet of aluminum foil to cover the top and removed it 5 minutes prior to when it finished baking.

In the classroom

Besides baked into bread or mixed into pancakes, bananas can be deep fried, steamed with glutinous rice, made into jam, sliced and dehydrated to make banana chips, dried and ground into banana flour, added to stews and curries, baked or mashed like a potato. Other parts of the banana plant are useful too. Banana leaves are large, flexible and waterproof. The leaves can be used to wrap food and then cooked by steaming, boiling, or grilling. The leaves can also double as a plate too. The fibers from the stems and leaves of the banana plant can be harvested to make cloth (like tablecloths or clothes) and even paper. The banana peel has been used by people to rub on mosquito bites for relief from itching and pain, rubbed on teeth to whiten them, rubbed on the face as as a moisturizing mask or to treat warts, polish shoes or silver utensils, tenderize meat while cooking, and to purify water.

In life

This is a story about those special moments when something happened at just the right time and in just the right way that it forever changed your way of thinking. It may have been a chance encounter with a stranger in a parking lot that you never saw again. Or it may have been a conversation held between others that you overheard. Or, maybe it was a close friend or family member who pointed out something you weren’t aware of in your thinking or behavior. Coincidence or not, it is a pivotal moment where your previous assumptions and beliefs crumbled away beneath your feet and you look down feeling exposed, raw, but at the same time, enlightened. When you looked up, your world view had changed and you will never look at it the same away again. This is a story about a girl’s adventure to touch the clouds and how her journey triggers the journeys and growth of the individuals she meets along the way.